Well,
that infection story actually dates back to January when the
lettuce-link was first reported and “only” seventeen
people were known then to have gotten sick.

Only?
Trust us on this: you do not ever, ever want to get
sick from
an E.coli infection because it will be a most
memorable and
unpleasant life event...if you live through it. The CDC estimates
that about 76 million people get sick every year from pathogens in
food and roughly about 5,000 people die from those infections.

The
secret body guard

So
without further ado here’s the secret. The body guard is…..
common household vinegar.

Seriously.
No jive Clyde.

Kids
from farming backgrounds will remember their grandmas using common
white distilled vinegar for all sorts of things including as a
kitchen counter cleaner either in a spray bottle when diluted 50-50
with water or vinegar straight from the jug. (Vinegar loses its smell
after it dries).

So
why is common vinegar so effective? Because vinegar
is a weak form of acetic acid, the pH of which is too strong for most
germs to survive.
Pretty simple, yes?

The
second thing
is, it’s really important to keep your kitchen clean and bug
free because according to the Global
Healing Center, “Bacteria
can live on cutting boards, sponges, counter tops, sinks, the grooves
between tiles, and many other places in your kitchen. They don’t
always come from contaminated, recalled foods. Bacteria grow in moist
conditions in your kitchen and can transferred from one surface to
another by hands or dishtowels.”

Think
of it this way: your
kitchen is sort
of
a 24/7 Petri dish for growing bacteria.
Not just from tainted produce, but from the bacteria that
can be found
on raw poultry, beef, pork and
the juices from same, unpasteurized
dairy products, salted
and smoked fish, etc.
Gotta keep that
Petri dish clean at all times, yes?

So
here’s the deal. You can use undiluted
vinegar
to clean counter tops, sinks,
faucets, coffee pots, dishwashers, all sorts of stuff.

You
can use diluted vinegar in a spray bottle (1 part
vinegar to 1
part water) all around the house as an all purpose
cleaner-deodorizer. Cheap and effective.

Mr.
Science to the rescue

And
if you’re the scientific type – don’t want to take
our word for it (after all, we’re the dreaded media “the
enemy of the people” according to Big Donnie Trumpie...who
appears to be in a big pile of trouble himself these days) –
then you can thank a fellow named Carl Custer.

Bro’
Carl (we think he’s a scientist) has put together in condensed
form a compilation of all or most of the modern day scientific
research papers done on the anti-bacterial properties of vinegar.

He
concludes (after all the science is in) that Vinegar
is indeed,
“A
useful household sanitizing agent for leafy greens and other
produce...I would douse the lettuce with plain white vinegar then
finish chopping the other salad ingredients. Finally give the greens
a quick water rinse, shake (or spin), then toss the remaining
ingredients with your favorite creamy dressing. Greater time,
temperature, or concentration increases the bactericidal effect.”